Late weight cut saves UFC 171 title fight in Dallas

The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) holds their pay-per-view, UFC 171, Saturday night in Dallas. The main event is for the recently vacated welterweight championship between Johny Hendricks and Robbie Lawler. Hendricks who in his last fight lost a closely contested and widely disputed fight against Georges St. Pierre, in which most spectators believe he won. Lawler is on a three fight win streak and is coming off a split decision victory against Rory MacDonald at UFC 167.

This was almost a non-title fight for one of the combatants. The UFC held weigh-ins yesterday for the 170 pound weight limit. Hendricks stepped on the scale and weighed 171.5 pounds. Hendricks was given two hours by the Texas fight commission. It was determined if Hendricks could not make weight it would be a non-title fight for him, while Lawler would still get the opportunity to win the title with a victory. Hendricks avoided that scenario by weighing in at 170 pounds within the additional two hours.

Hendericks’ nutritionist, Mike Dolce says making weight was never an issue. He blamed the issue on someone tampering with the scale they carry around that is calibrated to the scale used by the UFC. “We had gone to a local gym to do some weight cutting in the hot tub during fight week,” Dolce stated. “It was actually [Thursday]. Unfortunately, while we were in the hot tub, and the scale was unattended, attendees of the gym were hopping on and off of it. We think the scale might have been damaged because the weight started reading inconsistently.” UFC 171 takes place live tonight from the American Airlines Center, or you can contact your local cable operator to watch on pay per view.

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Kevin Tolliver resides in Frisco, TX. Kevin is a former sports reporter/anchor for an NBC affiliate in northern Louisiana. He started watching pro wrestling at five years old with his grandfather, and has been into MMA since the early days of the UFC. Whether its WWE, TNA, or Ring of Honor in pro wresting or MMA shows from UFC, Strikeforce, or Bellator; Kevin will give you a ring or cage side seat for all the action. Contact Kevin with your comments and questions.